Thread clearer for weft replenishing looms



Dec. 31, 1929. w. H. WAKEFIELD THREAD CLEARER FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Filed May 14. 1928 2 Shams-Sheet Patented Dec. 31, 1929 WALTER H. WAKEFIELD, 0F

KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, MASSACHUSETTS WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO CROMPTON & OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF THREAD CLEARER FOR VJEFT REILENISHING LOOMS Application filed May 14, 1928. Serial No. 277,542.

This invention relates to improvements in weft clearers for weft replenishing looms and it is the general object of the invention to provide a simple clearer which is dependent for its operation upon already existing parts of certain automatic looms, particularly multicolor weft replenishing looms.

At the time of transfer in an automatic loom the depleted bobbin is expelled from the active shuttle and moves down through a slot in the lay, being guided into a bobbin can by a chute secured to the lay. The end of filling usually extends upwardly from the bobbin in the can through the bobbin chamber in the shuttle, through the shuttle eye and from thence along a shuttlebinder and front wall of the shuttle to the selvage of the cloth. It is customary to provide a thread cutter located generally near or on the shuttle feeler, so that the thread is free to move from the shuttle feeler through the shuttle eye and into the can provided it is not bound or clamped between the shuttle wall and the binder. It is customary to provide a longitudinal groove in alignment with the delivery'end of the shuttle eye to receive the filling so that it will not be pinched between the shuttle and the binder. It is an important object of my present invention to provide cooperating thread extracting means formed in part by the bobbin chute which is a necessary part of a weft replenishing loom whether for replenishment of one'or more colors. I

In multicolor weft replenishing looms it is customary to employ a vertically reciproeating rod having different movements one of which is down just after the lay reaches front center. This rod has mounted on the upper end thereof a floating actuator lever which cooperates with a controller pin the position of which is determined by the weft detector. The latter cannot ordinarily give a full indication until the lay has moved to its extreme forwardposition and it is for this reason that the rod on which the actuator lever is mounted will ordinarily be timed to move downwardly no soonerthan the time'at which the lay reaches front center or a short time thereafter. Bythe time movement.

the lay has reached front center, however,

the act of transfer is complete and the eX- pelled bobbin has passed along the chute and into the bobbin can, so that the thread to be extracted is in withdrawing position before i invention to provide a very light swinging member normally held retracted in forward position but set into motion by the aforesaid rod to move between the bars of a grid formed preferably as a part of the bobbin chute.

lVith these and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and ar rangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings where one form of my invention is shown,

Fig. 1 is anend elevation of a portion of a loom equipped with my present invention, parts being in section,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing the expelled bobbin as it passes out of the shuttle,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to a portion of Fig. 1, but with the lay starting on its backward movement and the thread extractor moved to thread withdrawing position Fig. 1- is a front elevation taken in the direction of arrow 1, Fig. 1, and showing the portion of the extracting device, and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Referring to. the drawings, the loom frame 10 has mounted thereon the transferrer arm 12. The transferrer arm is capable of moving downwardly by mechanism not shown and is called into action by any approved form of weft detecting mechanism.

The lay 13 is provided with a slot 14 under the shuttle S and has secured to the under side thereof a chute 15 having a guiding ledge 16 and a downwardly and forwardly extending web 17 which acts to direct the expelled bobbin B into the bobbin can 18.

The weft replenishing mechanism M is preferably though not necessarily of the multicolor type and is provided with a vertically reciprocating block 19 which moves in a guide 20 secured to the loom frame 10. Said block is mounted on the upper end of a rod 21 and has a down movement timed ordinarily to take place either when the lay is in its forward position or when the lay has just started to move rearwardly after reaching front center. I A

The mechanism thus far described is of common construction, and forms no part of my present invention except the particular form of bobbin chute and may be substantially the same as that set forth in patent to Ryon No. 1,030,748 to which reference may be had for a more complete description of the block 19 and the manner in which it operates.

My present invention relates to means brought into action by the rod 21 tocooperate with a part of the bobbin chute to withdraw the thread of an expelled bobbin B and in carrying my invention into effect I provide web 17 with a plurality of substantially horizontal spaced slots 30 which are located approximately under the eye E of the shuttle S. The eye E communicates with the bobbin chamber C and the thread extending from the expelled bobbin B will pass upwardly from the bobbin can through a portion of the chamber G into the eye E and will extend across the slots 30. As shown in Fig. 5 that part of the web 17 which is engaged by the butt or head end H of the bobbin. B is not slotted and therefore presents a smooth surface along which the rings of the bobbin may roll.

Bracket 40 secured to the loom frame has secured thereto an upstanding stud 41 on which is mounted a sleeve 42. A swinging thread engaging arm 43 is secured to the sleeve 42 and has as shown in 1-4 three substantially horizontal wire members 44, 45 and 46, respectively. The outer ends of said wires are spaced and. so proportioned that wires 44 and 45 enter the slots 30, the lower arm 46 passing under the chute as shown in Fig. 3. The inner end of each wire is provided with a forwardly extending portion 47 which permits the yarn engaging portions of the arms to pass behind the web 17 a considerable distance. A wire brace 48 may be associated with the central arm 45 and support for free rotation a roll 49 by means of which the wirefraine 43 may be moved.

' T'he'previously described rod 21 has adjustably secured thereto 'cam block 50 by means of a set screw 51. Said block is provided in the particular form shownherein with an'upwardly and outwardly extending face 52 which is adapted to engage the roll 49.

In operation, as set forth in the aforesaid Patent No. 1,030,748, the rod 21 will receive a downward movement on alternate or detecting picks when the lay 13 is approxi mately in its extreme forward position or shortly thereafter. As said rod moves clownwardly the face 52 will engage the roll 49 and cause pivotal movement of the wire member 43 in a left hand direction about the stud 41 as viewed in Fig. 2. This action is against a light torsion spring 53 one end of which is secured as at 54 in a fixed stud 41 and the other end of which passes behind the top wire 44 as shown at 55 in Figs. 2 and 4. Asthe rod 21 descends, therefore, the wire members will be moved rearwardly to cause them to assume the position relatively to the web 17 which is indicated in Fig. 3. If a bobbin has been transferred on the forward movement of the lay the trailing end of the thread will be in the position indicated in dotted line T in Fig. 5 and the thread will be caused to assume a sinuous form such as shown in Fig. 3.

It is to be understood that the downward movement of the rod 21 is rather quick so that the arm 43 moves rearwardly more rapidly than does the lay and it is for this reason that the parts can assume the position shown in Fig. 3 while the lay is at the beginning of its rearward movement. I do not wish to be limited to the particular form of pivoted arm or member 43 such as shown herein, as it is sufficient for the purposes of my present invention if the swinging member is provided with the spaced fingers or arms to assume the position shown in Fig. 3 relatively to the chute to cause withdrawal of the thread T.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a thread withdrawing device or catcher formed of two cooperating parts one of which is the chute which must be used on automatic bobbin changing looms. It will further be seen that I effect cooperation of the thread withdrawing parts through the medium of a regularly moving part of automatic box looms and that the block 50 is adjustable along the rod 21 so that the time of operation of swinging device 43 may be varied. The action described will ordinarily take place before the shuttle is picked to the opposite side of the loom and for this reason the thread T extending downwardly in the eye of the shuttle will ordinarily extend across the slots 30 insom'e such a position as that indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be liniited to the "details herein disclosed, but what I claimis:

1. In a thread clearer for a loom, transfer mechanism to expel a depleted bobbin, a lay, a member having a regular movement after the transfer mechanism has operated and when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a chute secured to the lay and positioned to guide the expelled bobbin, and movable means engaged and set in motion by the member when the lay is substantially in its forward position, said means moving toward the chute and cooperating with the same to withdraw the thread of the expelled bobbin.

2. In a thread clearer for a loom, transfer mechanism to expel a depleted bobbin, a member having a regular movement after the transfer mechanism has operated and, when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a chute secured to the lay and positioned to engage and guide the expelled bobbin, and a movable element to be operatively related to the member when the latter has its regular movement to be projected toward the chute and cooperate with the latter to withdraw the thread from the expelled bobbin.

3. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a pivoted element normally in forward position, a bobbin directing chute secured 'to the lay and having an opening therein across which the thread of the expelled bobbin extends, and means independent of the lay operative upon the regular movement of the member to cause pivotal movement of the element toward the chute and through the opening to cooperate with the chute in withdrawing the thread of an outgoing bobbin.

4. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a chute secured to the lay to direct the movement of an outgoing bobbin and having an opening across which the thread of the outgoing bobbin extends, a movable element normally at rest and held yieldingly in front of the chute, and means operative on the regular movement of the mem er to cause said element to move through the opening of the chute to cooperate with the latter in withdrawing the thread of the outgoing bobbin.

5. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a chute secured to the lay for directing the motion of an outgoing bobbin and having an opening across which the thread of the outgoing bobbin extends, a movable thread engaging element, means to operatively relate the element and member when the member has its regular movement to move said element through the opening in the chute and cause said element to cooperate with the chute to withdraw the thread of the outgoing and a pivoted bobbin, and yielding means to return the element to normal position.

6. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a cam mounted on the member, a bobbin directing chute on the lay having an opening across which the thread of the outgoing bobbin extends, and means moved by the cam into the opening of the chute to cooperate with the latter to withdraw the thread of the outgoing bobbin.

'4. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a cam block mounted on the member for adjustmentrelatively to said member in the direction in which the member moves, a bobbin directing chute carried by the lay and having an opening across which the thread of the outgoing bobbin extends, and means mounted independently of the lay and actuated by the cam block to be moved upon regular movement of the member into the opening of the chute to cooperate with the latter'in withdrawing the thread of the out going bobbin.

8. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a cam device secured to the member, a bobbin directing chute secured to the lay and having an opening therein across which the thread of the outgoing bobbin may extend, element to be actuated by the cam device and be moved into the opening in the chute as the member has its regular movement to cooperate with the chute in withdrawing the thread of the outgoing bobbin.

9. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a cam device secured to the member, a bobbin directing chute secured to the lay and having an opening therein across which the thread of the outgoing bobbin may extend, a pivoted element to be actuated by the cam device and be moved into the opening in the chute as the member has its regular movement to cooperate with the chute in withdrawing the thread of the outgoing bobbin, and yielding means moving the pivoted element in a direction opposite to that in which the said element is moved by the cam device.

10. In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost position, a bobbin directing chute secured to the lay and having an opening therein across which the thread of the outgoing bobbin extends, a fixed stud, a sleeve rotatable thereon, yielding means tending to turn the sleeve in one direction, a thread engaging element secured to the sleeve and positioned to enter the opening in the chute, and means operative on the regular movement of the member to rotate the sleeve in the other direction and cause said element to enter the opening in the chute to cooperate with the latter in Withdrawing the thread of the outgoing bobbin.

11; In a thread clearer for a loom, a lay, a member having a regular movement when the lay is substantially in its foremost posit-ion, a bobbin directing chute secured to the lay and having an opening therein across Which the thread of the outgoing bobbin extends, a fixed stud, a sleeve mounted thereon, a spring tending to move the sleeve in one direction, a thread engaging element secured to the sleeve and adapted to enter the opening in the chute, a cam carried by the member, and means to cause movement of the sleeve in the other direction as the member has its regular movement to project the element into the opening in the chute to cooperate with the latter in Withdrawing the thread of the oii going bobbin.

12. In a thread clearer for a Weft replenishing loom, a lay, a chute secured to the lay and positioned to direct the movement of an outgoing bobbin and having an opening therein. thread-engaging means mounted in normally fixed position in front of said chute, and mechanism becoming operative at transfer to project said means rearward through said opening, whereby said means cooperates With said chute to Withdraw the thread of the outgoing bobbin rearward through the opening in said chute.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

WALTER H. VAKEFIELD. 

